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SAN ANTONIO • One of the more “hands on” workshops of Camp ACC, offered by the Archdiocesan Catechetical Center June 13 through July 28 at the chancery, was “Gather ’Em Round and Tell a Story.” This workshop explored creative ways to tell Old Testament stories to both young and old.
As promised in the class synopsis, these early Scriptures contain plenty of drama, romance, myths and suspense, and Veronica Benson (elementary coordinator at St. Francis of Assisi Parish) elaborated on how to handle these stories in an entertaining way.
“What I would like to bring to this wonderful place, amongst all God’s people here, is perhaps a new vision of what the Old Testament is about,” said Benson of the class. “I hope that whatever I share with you today might tweak your interest or might impart something that will draw you closer into the mystery of that Old Testament.”
Benson proceeded, through the use of music, props and enactment of skits involving workshop participants, to bring Scripture to life in an entertaining way attendees could recreate in their own religious education classrooms. |
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Observing that it is often difficult to know what to draw from in the books of the Old Testament, Benson provided a printed guide. She noted the first five books, the Pentateuch, contain all the “juicy stuff” in condensed form and set the stage for the rest of the Bible.
For starters, volunteers were called upon to mime the story of creation from Genesis, using foam board cut-outs and animal masks. The telling of the story of the Garden of Eden and God’s covenant with mankind was enacted by more “actors,” who took on the roles of Adam, Eve, God and a slithering snake — again with the use of props. “The bigger the props, the better,” said Benson.
Following the Garden of Eden segment, Benson handed out construction paper leaves, similar to those used to costume Adam and Eve, for the class to write down their answers to the questions, “What is your idea of covenant?” and “What keeps you from fulfilling that covenant?” She encouraged the class to place these leaves in their Bibles so they could “continue speaking to you.”
Benson took a different tack with the story of Noah’s ark, using “echo reflection,” a technique involving a reading by a leader with the group answering in response, all done in simple language to re-tell the story and stressing God’s promise to Noah.
Noting that some of the Old Testament stories are not unlike those one might find in modern novelas (and not always suitable for children!), Benson pointed out that in these Scriptures we are not always aware of where God is leading us, but ultimately his purpose is revealed. This was illustrated by the story of Abram, Sarai and Hagar and the birth of Ishmael, set in a culture far removed from modern times and mores.
“The Old Testament is one beautiful tapestry on the surface,” Benson said, noting that God often uses “most unlikely vessels” to get his message across, such as Moses who was chosen by God to lead the Israelites to the Promised Land.
Using some creativity to come up with a “burning bush” for this story, Benson produced a gadget she found in a local gift shop which, when plugged in, produced very realistic-looking fake flames. The addition of tumble- weeds, artfully placed around this little “cauldron,” produces a very real-looking “burning bush.”
A poster of the Ten Commandments, specially worded for children, led Benson to note we must always be honest and authentic in teaching what is right and wrong, though explanations should be made based on the age of the students.
Two other successful techniques Benson brought up included the use of food (always popular with students of all ages) and presentations that draw on the current “pop culture” to make the Bible story stick in the students’ minds.
For the latter, she suggested splitting a classroom up into “tribes” — à la the popular reality type television shows, such as Survivor — and having tribe competitions. She illustrated this (again, with the use of volunteers) with a game that had competitors racing across an imaginary Red Sea to get out of Egypt with construction paper “stepping stones.”
Involving food, she recalled a highly successful “Old Testament Eating Frenzy” (a variation of a scavenger hunt) that she had conducted for older students.
Noting that music draws us in, Benson played appropriate musical selections throughout the workshop, including these in her list of basic resource references for the class.
A final exercise had workshop participants acting as “liquid pictures,” with small groups each selecting a psalm to illustrate with simple actions.
Said Deb Desjean, associate director at the archdiocesan catechetical center, of the class, “We should take seriously what we do, but we don’t have to always ‘take it seriously!’” |